EATING DISORDER SYMPTOMATOLOGY IN MAJOR DEPRESSION

This study evaluated the relationship between eating disorder symptoma tology and severity of depression in depressed outpatients before and after antidepressant treatment and assessed the effect of treatment on eating disorder symptomatology. One hundred thirty-nine outpatients ( 82 women and 57 men) with major depressive disorder (MDD) filled out t he eating disorder inventory (EDI) before and after 8 weeks of treatme nt with fluoxetine 20 mg/day. Diagnoses of MDD and possible comorbid e ating disorders were made with the Structured Clinical Interview for D SM-III-R--Patient Edition. Several EDI subscales correlated significan tly with severity of depression both at baseline and endpoint. Additio nally, all EDI subscales showed a statistically significant decrease f ollowing fluoxetine treatment, and changes in depression severity foll owing treatment were significantly related to changes in EDI bulimia, ineffectiveness, perfectionism, and interpersonal distress subscale sc ores. These results suggest that several symptoms characteristic of ea ting disordered patients are linked to the severity of depressive symp toms. Decreases in eating disorder symptomatology following antidepres sant treatment may be related to changes in depressive symptoms.